Some choose teaching as second career

Transition to Teaching program at Bethel sees jump in male participants.

Transition to Teaching program at Bethel sees jump in male participants.

November 16, 2009|By KIM KILBRIDE Tribune Staff Writer

Luke Fry has always had a way with words. The 28-year-old Penn High School graduate's slick communication skills led him to a career in sales that paid a nice salary. At some point, though, Fry said, "I realized I couldn't do that for my whole life." On a deeper level, his job was not satisfying, he said. A stint as a volunteer baseball coach -- that continues today at Penn -- led him to what he believes will be his life's work. About a year ago, Fry took a significant pay cut to work as an instructional aide in Mishawaka High School's alternative school. And now, he's gone back to college to become a high school teacher through Bethel College's Transition to Teaching program. Considering what his future holds, Fry said, a specific salary isn't as important to him as it once was. "It's not a money issue anymore," he said of his new career choice. "And if you continue (in teaching), the money comes." Fry is among more than two dozen men in Bethel's Transition to Teaching program this year, an anomaly that may be attributed to the recession. Ralph Stutzman, director of Bethel's Transition to Teaching, said many of the men in the current group have been laid off from the recreational vehicle industry. Some, he said, are getting tuition assistance through a state grant for displaced RV workers. Stutzman said he meets with every candidate before he or she begins the program. "A lot of them (the men) suggested, 'Hey, I went for the money (in a former career), now I want to have some significance,' " he said. The yearlong Transition to Teaching program, which is offered at colleges and universities in Indiana that have traditional teacher-education programs, prepares people who have bachelor's degrees in a variety of fields to teach in elementary and secondary classrooms. Students seeking an elementary license must take 24 credit hours, while those going for a license to teach in middle schools and high schools are required to take 18 credit hours. The elementary program costs about $10,000; the secondary program costs about $8,000. Both of the programs have field work and student-teaching requirements. In all, 27 men and 28 women are in this year's group at Bethel, Stutzman said. Bryan Nelson, director of MenTeach, a Minnesota-based organization for male educators, said in a recent phone interview that the number of male teachers in the United States peaked in the late 1970s and early '80s. However, he said, there may be a new uptick in men preparing for teaching jobs taking place now. The recession, he said, has nudged men who've been laid off to stop and consider what it would be like to have a meaningful job. For some, the answer is teaching. Gender roles also are changing, he said, as more and more women are entering the work force in fields that have typically been male-dominated. "Why can't it go the other way?" he asked. "I think it's going to be an exciting time for men to still be men and work in any field they want." Ross Wenger, a 56-year-old from Elkhart, is precisely the type of person Nelson's talking about. Wenger was laid off three years ago from the Elkhart manufacturer he'd spent nearly three decades working for. Though the experience of losing his job was extremely painful at the time, he said, it may have been a blessing in disguise. "When I couldn't get other work, I thought maybe God was leading me down this path he started me on 15 years ago," he said, referring to side jobs officiating kids' sports, something he's grown to enjoy immensely over the years. With an undergraduate degree in math, Wenger is pursuing his secondary teaching license in the same subject. His Transition to Teaching experience will culminate in May, when he completes a full-time student teaching requirement. Then, he hopes to head to a classroom where he can make a positive impact on young peoples' lives. Stutzman, the administrator at Bethel, said there of course is no guarantee that those who graduate will find teaching positions. But, he said, "We've heard a good portion of our completers have been picked up (by schools). "I'm convinced that people who don't get discouraged will end up with jobs," he said. Wenger, meanwhile, is hopeful that teaching will indeed turn out to be his intended vocation. "I've heard there's a demand for math teachers." Staff writer Kim Kilbride: kkilbride@sbtinfo.com (574) 247-7759